MARX TO’ ENGELS”
{London,] 28 January [1858]

9 Grafton Terrace, Maitland Park,
Haverstock Hill

Dear Frederick,

‘The freezing weather which has set in here and the real shortage
of coal in this house compels me—although there’s nothing in the
world I loathe more—to impose on you again. I have brought

4 F. Engels, ‘Windham’s Defeat’.

134, Marx to Engels. 28 January 1858 255

myself to do so only after HEAvy PRESSURE FROM WITHOUT. My wife has
pointed out to me that you had miscalculated through having sent
send anything this month unless I wrote expressly; that she had
pawned her suaw., etc., etc., and was at a loss where to turn. In
short, I must write, which is why I am doing so. Indeed, if these
conditions persist, I’d sooner be miles under the ground than go
on scraping along in this way. Always to be a burden on others
while constantly tormented oneself by beastly trifles becomes
unbearable in the long run. I personally can bury myself in my
work and escape the muisére by devoting my attention to
universalities. My wife, or course, has no such refuge, etc., etc.

Lassalle’s book arrived today*; it cost 2/——not the book, but the
carriage. This circumstance ensured it a bad reception. 2 volumes
of 30 sheets Each. Have no more than squinted at it. In his preface
the fellow deludes readers into believing that he has been
gestating it since 1846. Seems altogether Old Hegelian. Very
possibly the legal tradition of hermeneutics came in useful for the
interpretation and comparison of passages. Nous verrons, though
the thing’s too bulky to be read from cover to cover.

I have also heard from Mr Pieper. He imparts the interesting
secret that, while here, he was suffering from ‘abdominal
difficulties’ and hence ‘may’ have seemed a bore.

The Orsini, etc., conspiracy”! might well put paid to the
Prussian amnesty.””” The day before yesterday the police here
forced their way into Orsini’s rooms at midnight, and inveictep his
maid‘ into accompanying them to Scotland Yard, where she was
interrogated by Mr Richard Mayne and some French mouchards.@
This escapade, besides compromising Mr Pam, failed in_ its
purpose even more lamentably in that Martin Bernard has taken
possession of all letters addressed to Orsini in London since the
latter’s arrest, Orsini himself having burned all the rest before
leaving here.

Salut.
Your
K. M.